A proud unapologetic Black trans woman speaking truth to power and discussing the world around her since 2006

Sunday, July 16, 2017

You're In A Human Rights Fight Right Now

One of the things my friends and my blog readers know about me is I grew up with a mother and godmother who instilled a deep love of history within me.

I would read the accounts of the African American Civil Rights Movement, watch the documentaries as a kid growing up in the 70's and wonder if I were twenty years older at that time, how involved would I have been in fighting for the freedom of my people and making this country better as a result?

As an adult I don't have to imagine what I would have done, I'm involved in a freedom fight right now that is just as critical to the future of this country as the Civil Rights Movement proved to be.

Transgender people here and around the world are fighting for their human rights and recognition of their humanity.

Here in the United States, our opposition is the Axis of Transphobic Evil comprised of the Republican Party, TERF's (trans exclusionary radical feminists), right wing fundamentalist evangelicals, the Southern Baptists, and even the Ku Klux Klan

These folks are all colluding to deny the humanity and human rights of transgender Americans, and ramping up their anti-trans hate speech and efforts to pass unjust legislation to do so.
Those efforts of the Axis of Transphobic Evil got a major boost in the wake of the unfortunate results of the November 2016 presidential election.

It should be undeniably apparent to you that in this July 2017 moment, you're witnessing at this present time in a human rights fight. The Republicans, fundie 'christians' and the conservative movement have made it clear that they have declared war on the transgender community, and want to exercise their oppressor gene like their Jim Crow segregationist parents, grandparents and great grandparents.

The Axis of Transphobic Evil is even going there and attacking trans kids, their parents and trans soldiers. We can't as their trans elders allow those attacks on our trans kids to go unanswered and must push back hard against them.

Neither can we allow any attacks to go unchallenged on the 15,000 trans people currently serving in our nation's armed forces or trans vets who proudly put their lives on the line in defense of this country.

It's even more distasteful when the anti-trans rhetoric is coming out the mouths of chickenhawk Republican legislators who dodged the draft like Rep. Steve King (R-IA) or ignorant people like Rep Vicky Hartzler (R-MO).

But then again. both of them along with my lieutenant governor keep proving my point that the most dangerous transphobe is the one with the power to write or pass legislation, and the Republican Party has a bumper crop of them.

So what will you do?

Will you fight to oppose these unjust anti-trans laws when they pop up in your locale? Will you be one of the people gleefully working to pass them? Will you be helping to grease the skids for their passage by spouting loud, ignorant and wrong transphobic comments? Will you sit on the sidelines and do nothing? Will you gripe about and hate on the people actually fighting to keep these laws from passing as you sit on the sidelines?

Will you be helping to educate your fellow cis people and dispel the anti-trans lies that the Axis of Transphobic Evil is trying to put out there?

What will you say to future generations of your family about your role in the civil rights fight of your lifetime?

I know what I'll be doing. I'll be fighting the passage of this unjust anti-trans legislation with every fiber of my being until I can't..

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About The TransGriot

Monica Roberts, AKA the TransGriot (Gree-oh) is a native Houstonian, GLAAD award nominated blogger, writer, and award winning trans human rights advocate. She's the founding editor of TransGriot, and her writing has appeared at the Bilerico Project, Ebony.com, The Huffington Post and the Advocate.
She works to foster understanding and acceptance of trans people inside and outside communities of color and was recently honored with the Virginia Prince Transgender Pioneer Award

TransGriot Blog Mission Statement

The TransGriot blog's mission is to become the griot of our community. I will introduce you to and talk about your African descended trans brothers and trans sisters across the Diaspora, reclaim and document our chocolate flavored trans history, speak truth to power, comment on the things that impact our trans community from an Afrocentric perspective and enlighten you about the general things that go on around me and in the communities that I am a member of.

--Mission Statement compiled January 2, 2011

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